Youth Revolt in Europe

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Students and young people throughout Europe are in revolt. Faced with rising tuition, privatization, cuts in education programs, and unstable employment prospects after graduation, European youth have been at the forefront of the struggle not only for better education but for improved living conditions generally.

Greece
In 2006, proposals for neo-liberal reforms of the Greek education system led to a massive student strike of 100,000 and occupation of 90% of the universities. This movement later inspired a general strike that same year, in which the students took part in solidarity.

In December, a police officer shot a fatal bullet into 15-year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, sparking off riots and protests in 27 cities throughout Greece in which 200 universities and 700 schools were occupied. The rallies included a 24-hour teachers’ strike and a national public-sector work stoppage. Greek Prime Minister Karamanlis was forced to admit that “long-unresolved problems, such as the lack of meritocracy, corruption in everyday life, and a sense of social injustice disappoint young people.”

France
Also in December, days after the Greek movements began, French students moved into action with 127,000 high school students protesting against cuts to education. President Sarkozy told the French parliament: “In the name of symbols, they can overthrow the country. They are regicidal. Just look what’s going on in Greece.” The Sarkozy administration then retreated on their neo-liberal education reform in fear of the “Greek syndrome.” But distrusting Sarkozy’s word, there were more students on the streets after the government backed down than before!

Germany
In Germany, Sozialistische Alternative, the German section of the CWI, responded to government plans to cut public education funding by organizing a national student strike of 100,000 in November. The proposed reforms would place a disproportionate weight on standardized tests, increase class size, and push quality higher education further out of reach for all but the wealthy elite.

Italy
In Italy, a coalition of labor forces, university students, and teachers staged the largest protests there in 15 years. Half a million protesters in Rome demonstrated against a proposed $10 billion cut in education funding, yelling “If they block our future, we’ll block the city.” The student movement was clearly political this time, directly challenging the neoliberal agenda of President Berlusconi.

Ireland
In Ireland, 60,000 students and sympathizers took to the streets of Dublin alone to protest proposed cutbacks in public education. Nationwide, around 100,000 came out in a country of just 3 million!

Radicalizing Youth

The financial crisis is radicalizing the youth, who find themselves under attack as students, as workers, and as future job seekers looking to pay off debt. The students of Europe have made clear they will not just watch as their educational institutions try to block working-class students in favor of a privileged elite. They will not accept banks getting bailed out for their own crisis while young people struggle just to find a job.

The Greek and other European youth movements have in common a contempt for governments and business – sharpened by the bank failures, a growing alliance with wider sections of society coming under attack from government cutbacks, and the sense of being part of a sacrificed generation.

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